Postby WildcatOne » Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:55 pm
Wish I could have seen the show, Doc...I saw a great one and a stinker last night...the Heil talk box is an interesting effect, it's even been the subject of controversy. What it is, is a line out from either the instrument or the amp that runs through a processor whose output goes into a clear plastic tube. The tube is run up the mic stand to the tip of the microphone, where the guy puts the tube in his mouth and forms words that are shaped and projected into the microphone with the notes he is playing on his instrument, which are coming out of the end of the tube. The first time I heard it was on that song "Forever" back in the early 60s...I don't remember who recorded it, but it had "Hold me, love me, thrill me, forever..." a steel guitar line with the guy using a talk-box...Joe Walsh criticized Peter Frampton for his excessive use of the device, as Walsh used it to great effect on "Rocky Mountain Way", in a tasteful and restrained fashion. I thought I heard traces of his talk-box on "Life's Been Good" as well...Frampton based "Show Me The Way" on the gadget, and he took it even farther on "Do You Feel Like We Do" and it miffed Joe Walsh. He said Frampton cheapened the effect and made it common. I dug Frampton's deal and I enjoyed the songs he did with it, but I also value Joe Walsh's opinion as he has produced some truly great music. There is a lot more to him than folks might think...he's not just a consumately gifted guitarist and songwriter, he's an OK guy. He was responsible for Jimmy Page obtaining a Les Paul in 1968 to replace his battered Telecaster that he was using to play in Led Zeppelin with. Page was trying to buy a Les Paul in the USA and everybody was gouging him once they found out who he was, trying to sell him a Les Paul for 10 times what it was really worth, which actually was 5 or 6 grand in 1968 American dollars. Walsh found out about it, and he called Page and said let me get you one...a '58...and I'll buy it and then you can give me what I pay for it. He got Jimmy Page's Les Paul for around 5 grand, flew it over to London and handed it to him in person. Page paid him what he bought it for and the rest is history. From my own experience, I have never heard a better use of the talk-box than was done on a song by a band called Klaatu in the mid-to-late 70s. The song was on their first album and it is called "Little Neutrino". It is an eerie, haunting and beautiful song about the life of a distant planet that lived and had a soul of its own. There were grapevine rumors that Klaatu were actually the Beatles, making music under an assumed identity, but they were not founded. It was just a rumor. No personnel were listed on their records. But that song still occupies a special space in my musical memory. Klaatu is no more, but they made a song that will forever stand as a masterpiece, and it featured a talk-box. Cheers, WC1
Last edited by
WildcatOne on Tue Apr 10, 2007 8:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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